


Things Change

by IFallLikeLeavesAndSnow



Category: The Cabin in the Woods (2011)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Apocalypse Prevented, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-09
Updated: 2017-09-09
Packaged: 2018-12-13 10:22:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11757822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IFallLikeLeavesAndSnow/pseuds/IFallLikeLeavesAndSnow
Summary: Blood and a show is all that is required to slake Their thirst; the rest is just window dressing. When Darkness threatens to rise from the depths, there is only one question that need be asked of Them: Are you not entertained?Or to put it another way: Rituals are all well and good, but things change and so do tastes; variety is the spice of life (and ritualistic murders to appease ancient gods).





	Things Change

"Dana I'm sorry, I meant it when I said that it should never had lasted this long, now shoot him before you kill us all!"

The gun is strangely light in her hand. Why is it so light? She's held a gun before, she knows how it feels. When her father took her to the range, it was always so heavy. It takes no effort to raise it now. It's so _so_ easy. Everyone is dead. Everyone but her and Marty. Curt, Jules, Holden, all of them killed, and the person responsible for it all is asking her to shoot the only friend she has left. For what? For the _greater good?_ For a world that's already tearing itself apart?  At the behest of a woman she's never met? No, no way, and the asking of a question like that necessitates only one response. She doesn't make a quip, merely centers herself, braces like she remembers her dad telling her to years ago and pulls the trigger.

The eyes of the Director are wide as she falls to the ground, blood pouring out of the hole in her head. Marty's eyes are just as wide. Dana's hands are shaking as they clutch the gun. She leans over and lets go, and when she's done she finds a hand at her back, rubbing small circles.

"Thanks Dana," he says breathlessly, "It was cool of you to save my life, even if it does mean the worlds fucked."

She speaks around the burning and the taste in her mouth, "The world was already fucked Marty. Besides, if she thought I'd shoot you, then she was the Fool." They sit on the stairs and wait patiently for the world to end.

It doesn't.

They wait and wait and wait, and the world doesn't end and everyone is still dead and it's so fucking _unfair_. Patience Buckner comes down the stairs with her axe and Dana doesn't even waste the bullets. She grabs the one armed zombie, heaves her up with strength born from pure unbridled _hatred_ and hurls her into the abyss. As the girl disappears silently into the mist, Dana is suddenly so very _tired_. Marty pulls out the last of his stash. They wait in the quiet for something else to come and kill them, engaging in what will undoubtedly be their last game of puff puff pass. The blunt runs out and they're left with a slight buzz and the empty feeling in their stomachs.

The werewolf takes them by surprise.

It goes for Marty first, and while Dana is busy trying to grab the gun with fingers that _won't fucking work_ it bites into his shoulder. The scream that rips out of Marty's throat is the catalyst she needs. She raises the gun and shoots at the beast. It howls when it's hit, but it doesn't go down. It slings Marty away, and he goes so close to sliding over the edge that Dana's heart almost stops. Then the werewolf is upon her. It bites into her shoulder, and in her pain she reflexively squeezes the trigger and then keeps on squeezing it. The world whites out, and the jaws clamped around her shoulder loosen. The weight of the body crashes down on her. Before the weight can crush her, she feels the body move. There's a grunt and the wall of fur and muscle is removed. A blood covered, sweating Marty pants raggedly as he offers her his hand.

"Let's get out of here." They stagger up the stairs and back into the nightmare.

-

The hallway is raining blood. It's a sight Dana never thought she'd see and never wanted to. The most ominous part of it is that the rest of the hall is perfectly fine, ignoring the rivulets of red slowly oozing down the wall and the incessant dripping as the blood falls into the already enormous puddles. There aren't any bodies, no signs of violence, just a steady drip of blood and the bulging ceiling tiles.

It's a bit of a catch twenty two; on the one hand she hopes the tiles aren't bulging because there are bodies pressing against them because that means that something is probably nesting up there. On the other hand, that would mean that there's an even more horrifying amount of blood waiting up there. She doesn't mention it to Marty, and he doesn't ask. They hurry down the hallway.

They walk carefully, quietly, and with no fucking clue as to where they're going. The hallways blend together, either a vanishingly rare porcelain white, or dripping with blood. It's quiet, it's far _far_ too quiet. Is this what it's like when there are no more humans left to slaughter? When all the prey has been hunted and killed? She can tell that they aren't alone. There's simply no way that the rest of the facility has emptied. They turn a corner and the man with the saw blades in his head is standing there, staring down at what used to be a body.

They freeze, waiting for him to turn, for him to kill them. He (does a thing like this even count as a he? As a person?) turns, and his gaze is curious as it fixes on them. They wait for it to finally, _finally_ end. After a moment, the man turns back to looking at the body. Somehow it isn't even a surprise. They wander down the hallways and don't look back.

-

Eventually the halls echo with cries and the sounds of buzz saws again. It seems that without any other humans to kill the inhabitants of the menagerie have turned on one another, their truce now void. When they hear the noises in the distance, they stop and wait. It takes hours for the hallways to fall silent again. When half an hour has gone by and there aren't any more screams, they move on. They've been lucky. Too lucky if Dana is being honest, but at this point she doesn't really care. The hallways get cleaner the farther along they go. The pools of blood and dismembered bodies get rarer the longer they walk. Occasionally they see the remnants of creatures. Broken machines, killer animals and quite a few things that _look_ human but feel intrinsically **wrong.**

They come to a door, giant and covered in glyphs and symbols. It looks to be made out of an incredibly thick metal. There's a hand scanner waiting there. They back track and find a hand in the hallway, finding their way by the blood stains and body parts. The panel beeps and there comes a sound of countless locks sliding back. The door swings inward, and a set of stairs wait for them on the other side. After they step through the door shuts itself. The climb is a long one, and at the end their wounds are itching and they're even more exhausted. Another door waits for them, this one relatively simple, though it still has a scanner. They use the hand again and the locks slide back. Inside is a small room with a ladder and a hatch at the top. Dana goes first. She flings the hatch open and sunlight and fresh air streams in and hits their faces. They come out on top of a hill.

There are people waiting for them; people with guns. In the middle of the heavily armed crowed there is a woman. Her hair is a shocking white, and they can't quite tell if it's age or bleach. A pair of glasses cover blue eyes. She's old, clearly, but she holds herself with strength and grace. "Dana, Marty," she smiles and nods to them in turn, "I'm the new Director, and we have a _lot_ to talk about."

**Author's Note:**

> The woman in the suit at the end is based on another extremely well known Scream Queen, Jamie Lee Curtis, in case you were wondering, specifically her typical outfit from Season 1 of Scream Queens.


End file.
